Ring of Honor Wrestling

[Duffman]

From PWInsider;

Ring of Honor just infiormed staff and talents that after the 12/11 Final Battle PPV, the promotion will be taking a hiatus in order to make changes to the company's business operations going forward. There will be no live events until at least April 2022, with the promotion focusing on returning with Supercard of Honor:

ROH issued the following statement to PWInsider.com:

"Throughout the pandemic our top priority was to keep everyone healthy and safe, and despite not producing any live events over 18 months, we were able to keep everyone fully contracted. We now find ourselves at a time where we need to make changes to our business operations and are planning a pivot for Ring of Honor, with a new mission and strategy.

The year will culminate with a Final Battle in December, and we willbe taking the first quarter of 2022 to work internally to reimagine ROH. ROH has the most dedicated fans in the industry, and we appreciate their loyalty and patience as we reconceptualize ROH. We anticipate returning to live events in April for the Super Card of Honor with a new fan-focused product and provide a unique experience for wrestling fans."

The same statement is also being released via their social media channels.

PWInsider.com has learned the decision was made about a week ago.

I am slated to sit down with ROH Chief Operating Officer Joe Koff shortly to discuss what exactly this all means going forward for all aspects of Ring of Honor.

Stay tuned for more.

 

[Duffman]

PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple talents who were on today's Ring of Honor Zoom call that they were informed that if their contracts were expiring at the end of the year, they will not be renewed. At that point, they will be free to go work elsewhere.

Talents who have deals beyond 1/1/22 will remain under contract for at least a certain period of time.

Update: We have heard March 2022 and/or April 2022, so it is within that window.

Ring of Honor is still slated to tape episodes of their weekly TV series this weekend in Baltimore and the 12/11 Final Battle PPV is still on. That PPV will very much an end-point chapter in Ring of Honor as whatever form the promotion ends up taking going forward will be a very different animal.

We are also told that the promotion does have a venue currently locked in for Wrestlemania weekend 2022 in Dallas, Texas, which would be the announced Supercard of Honor.

Ring of Honor's weekly TV series will continue on during this announced "hiatus", using a mix of archival footage and more.

 

[wildturkey]

Sad day. I doubt they ever relaunch. But its not all that surprising considering they never started running shows with fans again and that Sinclair has never really cared all that much about it other than having cheap content to put on their OTA networks. Like if they really cared about investing in wrestling, AEW wouldn't exist because they literally had all the pieces that put AEW together on their roster (minus Kenny, who still worked shows for them on a part time basis).

It'll be interesting to see who goes where now. There's obviously a handful of guys AEW will be interested in. I doubt WWE takes many if any. Impact, if they've got some more cash, could benefit greatly from this. Personally, I'd love to see Jay Lethal go to AEW or WWE. Been a fan of his for years but he's always chosen to be a big fish in a small pond. I'm interested in seeing him on a big stage.

 

[Judge Fudge]

Rough Couple of Spots days for me.

First the Blackhawks scandal now this

 

[Judge Fudge]

Sad day. I doubt they ever relaunch. But its not all that surprising considering they never started running shows with fans again and that Sinclair has never really cared all that much about it other than having cheap content to put on their OTA networks. Like if they really cared about investing in wrestling, AEW wouldn't exist because they literally had all the pieces that put AEW together on their roster (minus Kenny, who still worked shows for them on a part time basis).

It'll be interesting to see who goes where now. There's obviously a handful of guys AEW will be interested in. I doubt WWE takes many if any. Impact, if they've got some more cash, could benefit greatly from this. Personally, I'd love to see Jay Lethal go to AEW or WWE. Been a fan of his for years but he's always chosen to be a big fish in a small pond. I'm interested in seeing him on a big stage.

Covid kill man.

If they find another investor and come back. Cool but I doubt it very much

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Sad day. I doubt they ever relaunch. But its not all that surprising considering they never started running shows with fans again and that Sinclair has never really cared all that much about it other than having cheap content to put on their OTA networks. Like if they really cared about investing in wrestling, AEW wouldn't exist because they literally had all the pieces that put AEW together on their roster (minus Kenny, who still worked shows for them on a part time basis).

It'll be interesting to see who goes where now. There's obviously a handful of guys AEW will be interested in. I doubt WWE takes many if any. Impact, if they've got some more cash, could benefit greatly from this. Personally, I'd love to see Jay Lethal go to AEW or WWE. Been a fan of his for years but he's always chosen to be a big fish in a small pond. I'm interested in seeing him on a big stage.

I feel like Flip would go to AEW. Brody King will probably stay with New Japan. Danhausen and the Briscoe’s I think will be fine on the indy’s. Not sure about the rest of their roster off the top of my head since I’m not too familiar with their product anymore.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Ring of Honor's future direction to focus on non-contracted wrestlers

The future of Ring of Honor will focus on non-contracted indie talent, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez

www.f4wonline.com

 

[Duffman]

EXCLUSIVE: ROH COO JOE KOFF DISCUSSES HIS REACTION TO THE SHUTDOWN OF RING OF HONOR AS WE KNEW IT, WHETHER ROH'S TAPE LIBRARY IS FOR SALE, DELIRIOUS' STATUS GOING FORWARD, THE PLANNED APRIL 2022 RETURN, WOW ON SINCLAIR, HIS MESSAGE TO THE ROH AUDIEN

www.pwinsider.com

 

[Judge Fudge]

1st off the send-off was well done. I liked Everything from the surprises, to the tributes to the matches. Shane Taylor and Kenny King was phenomenal.

2nd. They need to keep up the Ec3 storyline in April. I think they might have something their.

3rd. I look forward to see how ROH reinvents itself. We'll they try and grab new Talent?

Who?

What, if any, Originals well be there?

 

[wildturkey]

1st off the send-off was well done. I liked Everything from the surprises, to the tributes to the matches. Shane Taylor and Kenny King was phenomenal.

2nd. They need to keep up the Ec3 storyline in April. I think they might have something their.

3rd. I look forward to see how ROH reinvents itself. We'll they try and grab new Talent?

Who?

What, if any, Originals well be there?

I'm gonna be pretty surprised if it relaunches at all. Even if it does, it's not gonna be be new talent so to speak. The way they laid it out, they aren't really gonna have anyone under contract. Just deals with their champs and everyone else is brought on a show to show basis. Basically, they're back to being a true Indy company that just happens to have some type of TV presence

Also, that EC3 stuff sucks. If that's the best he can do, no wonder WWE left him in catering.

Give me all that Briscoes vs FTR though

 

[Raw_Bee808]

 

[wildturkey]

First show under the new Tony Khan owned ROH is Friday night. The SuperCard Of Honor line up;

World Title: Johnathan Gresham vs Bandido
Tag Title: Briscoes vs FTR
Interim Women's Title: Willow Nightingale vs Mercedes Martinez
TV Title: Rhett Titus vs Minoru Suzuki
Pure Title: Josh Woods vs Wheeler Yuta
Alex Zayne vs Swerve Strickland
Jay Lethal vs Lee Moriarty
Ninja Mack vs Mystery Opponent managed by Tully Blanchard


Tony Khan has promised a couple of surprises, including what he calls a big one to close the show

 

[UVA_Guy81]

First show under the new Tony Khan owned ROH is Friday night. The SuperCard Of Honor line up;

World Title: Johnathan Gresham vs Bandido
Tag Title: Briscoes vs FTR
Interim Women's Title: Willow Nightingale vs Mercedes Martinez
TV Title: Rhett Titus vs Minoru Suzuki
Pure Title: Josh Woods vs Wheeler Yuta
Alex Zayne vs Swerve Strickland
Jay Lethal vs Lee Moriarty
Ninja Mack vs Mystery Opponent managed by Tully Blanchard


Tony Khan has promised a couple of surprises, including what he calls a big one to close the show

A few things I’d like to check out: Briscoe’s/FTR, Suzuki, to see who Tully’s managing now (not so much the match since I’ve never heard of Ninja Mack) and what surprises that are coming. Also wondering if Ian Riccaboni will be announcing or if it’ll be someone else.

 

[wildturkey]

A few things I’d like to check out: Briscoe’s/FTR, Suzuki, to see who Tully’s managing now (not so much the match since I’ve never heard of Ninja Mack) and what surprises that are coming. Also wondering if Ian Riccaboni will be announcing or if it’ll be someone else.

Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are still the announce team. I don't know if they've been announced as continuing to be the team going forward, but they are for this show at least.

And there's rumors Tully's new client is

Spoiler

Brian Cage. While not personally exciting, I actually think ROH is a great place for him considering how crowded AEW's roster has gotten.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are still the announce team. I don't know if they've been announced as continuing to be the team going forward, but they are for this show at least.

And there's rumors Tully's new client is

Spoiler

Brian Cage. While not personally exciting, I actually think ROH is a great place for him considering how crowded AEW's roster has gotten.

I knew Ian had been calling the NJPW Strong shows, so I wasn’t sure if he’d be doing ROH as well.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Also just saw that Regal and Chavo are going to be there tonight.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Just read the results and that was a good way to end the show! I’ll try to watch some of the matches sometime in the next few days.

 

[wildturkey]

Pretty decent show.

Go out of your way to see the FTR/Briscoes match. It was billed as a dream match and delivered. No spoilers but there's big implications that will play out on Wednesday as well.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

That tag match was worth the price of the show by itself. That’s the type of tag team wrestling that I enjoy. Really wish that the Briscoe’s could go to AEW.
I saw that it got over 20k buys. Just wonder how much they could’ve gotten if they promoted it more during Dynamite?

 

[wildturkey]

That tag match was worth the price of the show by itself. That’s the type of tag team wrestling that I enjoy. Really wish that the Briscoe’s could go to AEW.
I saw that it got over 20k buys. Just wonder how much they could’ve gotten if they promoted it more during Dynamite?

I saw some people talk saying some of their shows in the past were doing like 800 to 1000 buys. So they did a big boost over that with little promotion.